Intro Week-Student Choice-Martyrdom of Stephen

As a student choice assignment we were able to choose between a few different options and expound upon the topic we chose to learn more about.

For this assignment I chose the Martyrdom of Stephen.

I’m not very knowledgeable of the scriptures, but I am very willing to learn.

That being said, I don't really remember the Martyrdom of Stephen so this was definitely a growing experience for me.

Here is the outline of the questions:

1.    Review Acts 6:6–8 and Acts 7:51–60. Then respond to the following items:

·      Write a summary of Stephen’s last words and what impressed you about them.

·      What do we learn about the Godhead from these verses? 

 

2.    Compare Stephen’s death to Abinadi’s in Mosiah 17:7–20. List how they were similar. What impact do their final testimonies have upon you?

After reading these scriptures these are the ones that had an impact and stuck out to me the most:

In Acts 6:8 it tells us that Stephen was full of faith and power and that he did great wonders and miracles among the people. After reading that I was assured that he was working with the power of God and that he was able to do a lot of good. In Acts 7:52 Stephen is Chastising the wicked people and it was such a powerful scripture because he asks them which prophet they or their fathers have not persecuted, then he continues saying that they have slain them and that they were betrayers and murderers. Stephen knew what he was getting into when he chose to follow the work of the Lord and he knew that these people were murderers. In the last scripture Acts 7:60 with such love and compassion Stephen, while being stoned, cried unto the Lord in a loud voice and said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Of all the things that he could have said or yelled he chose to ask the Lord to forgive them of this. He was being a perfect example of Christ on the cross at Calvary. 

In Mosiah 17:7-10 King Noah tells Abinadi that they had found an accusation against him that was worthy of death. King Noah told Abinadi that because he said that God should come down among the children of men that he should be put to death unless he would recall those words. Knowing that he would be put to death he stood righteously and told King Noah that he would not recall the words that he had said and emphasized again that they were true. Abinadi told him in verse 10, “ I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words”

These two men were similar in their deaths because no matter what came to pass, they would not deny the word of God.

It’s hard to say what a person would do in that situation because it is such a severe situation, but I would hope that we could stand up for what we believe in. I would hope that we could stand for the thing that we believe in even though we knew we were going to be scorned and persecuted.